What is your heartbreak song?

Come on, you have one. Unless you've never had your heart broken, in that case, I'm sorry in advance and, when it's time, remember this: you're gonna get through it!

Mine is Glimpse of Us by Joji. So sad but so beautiful but so sad.

Much is questioned on whether other species can enjoy music as we do. As far as my light Saturday-morning reading goes, the jury is still out. What is not questioned is the place that music has in our sense of self and our interactions with others.

The original idea for Tempo Music was born from a feeling that at some point in the 2010s something had shifted in the way people related to music. Streaming gave us access to more music than we could ever listen to, and yet we've found ourselves often listening to the same artists. More people than ever could share their songs with the world, but the bigger piece of the pie still went to the same major label artists. The process of shaping music culture was taken from people and given to algorithms. Suddenly, it wasn't enough for a teenager to make a song on their parent's computer and put it on the web; they had to go viral, do a TikTok dance, maybe try Spotify bots, paid playlists?

Did the promise that the internet could democratize music never materialize, or was it successful for only a blink of an eye?

Then came AI. AI-generated music took the work of generations of musicians and reheated it in a broken microwave of mediocrity. As we speak, it is robbing present and future generations of the true wonder of finding and connecting with the level of creativity that only another human can provide. Some circles of the tech industry broadcast narratives for the role of AI in the arts that feel completely disconnected from the motivations for humans to produce and experience art.

"It's not really enjoyable to make music now… it takes a lot of time, it takes a lot of practice… I think the majority of people don't enjoy the majority of the time they spend making music."

  • MIKEY SHULMAN, Suno AI CEO

We are building Tempo because we believe that music matters. Music is the good and bad moments, the breakup, the celebration, the years of practice, the school recital, the concert in the shower, the karaoke with friends. And we know we're not alone. We've chosen the AT Protocol exactly because we believe that music cannot and should not be contained.

We are building a place for all of us to show our love of music and to express ourselves. We have so many ideas on where we'd like to take Tempo. Ideas about self-expression, curation, true music ownership, direct-to-artist engagement, community participation and more, but we need your input. This is our invitation for you to join our community and help us shape Tempo into a nice island of creativity and inspiration. Let's look into the future but with the weirdness and whimsy of the old internet, of a time when technology made us hopeful.

What you can do for now:

Head to https://tempomusic.app and sign up for Early Access. We'll start inviting people soon. The AT Proto is our home, so follow us at @tempomusic.app to hear from us first. To a more musical, creative, and fun internet! 🥂

Rob

Chief Idea Guy @ Tempo Music